System for providing mobile advertisement actions

ABSTRACT

A system for providing mobile advertisement actions may include a memory to store a request, mobile carrier data, mobile advertisement data, and mobile advertisement action data. The system may include an interface operatively connected to the memory to communicate with a mobile device. The system may include a processor operatively connected to the memory and the interface. The processor may receive information and a request from the mobile device via the interface and may determine the mobile carrier data relating to a mobile carrier associated with the mobile device. The processor may identify the mobile advertisement data and the mobile advertisement action targeted to the request and the mobile carrier data. The processor may append the mobile advertisement action data to the mobile advertisement data. The processor may provide the mobile advertisement data with the appended mobile advertisement action data to the mobile device via the interface.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present description relates generally to a system and method forproviding mobile advertisement actions, and more particularly, but notexclusively, to providing mobile advertisement actions with a mobileadvertisement to a user on a mobile device.

BACKGROUND

The mobile phone is increasingly more important as an information andcontent access device. Currently there may be twice as many mobilecommunication devices as personal computers. Mobile operators areincreasingly looking to high value data services as a way to overcomethe continuing decline in average per user voice revenue. Billions ofdollars are being spent globally on wireless licenses with billions morein investments in the pipeline for development of infrastructure andservices by wireless service and content providers. Carriers may beintroducing new data, content and multimedia services as a means ofgenerating new revenue streams, reversing negative ARPU trends,retaining and attracting customers as well as increasing returns oninvestment, and extending and differentiating their service offering toconsumers. The emergence of these wireless technologies create uniqueopportunities for wireless carriers, advertisers and publishers togenerate additional revenue streams through new and existing customers.As consumer adoption of wireless technology continues to increase,marketing via mobile devices becomes an important part of all integrateddata communications strategies.

However, usage patterns for mobile search and Web search may differ, aswell as the expectations of the users and the advertisers. Combined witha completely different user experience, these may change the value ofclicks and lead opportunities. Current mobile devices may have limitedbrowser capabilities that do not support the rich feature set of theWeb. Handset capabilities may impact the search behavior of mobileusers, where the limitations of numeric-pad keyed entry narrow thesearched for terms. The small screen size on mobile devices may have animpact on the performance of the search implementations. The size ofscreens on mobile handsets may limit the output that may be displayedper listing, and the number of listings per screen. The absence of amouse or joystick increases the time necessary for a mobile user tobrowse a webpage and click on links. Network broadcast speeds andbandwidths may limit the amount of data that a user receives at a time.Additionally, mobile users travel with their mobile devices and may needto obtain information much quicker than Web users. Current onlinemarketing systems may not account for differences between mobilehandsets and computers.

SUMMARY

A system is disclosed for providing mobile advertisement actions. Thesystem receives a request from a mobile device. The system thenidentifies an advertisement targeted to the request where theadvertisement includes at least one mobile advertisement action. Thesystem then communicates the advertisement and the at least one mobileadvertisement action to the mobile device.

The system for providing mobile advertisement actions may include amemory to store a request, mobile carrier data, mobile advertisementdata, and mobile advertisement action data. The system may include aninterface operatively connected to the memory to communicate with amobile device. The system may include a processor operatively connectedto the memory and the interface. The processor may receive informationand a request from the mobile device via the interface and may determinethe mobile carrier data relating to a mobile carrier associated with themobile device. The processor may identify the mobile advertisement dataand the mobile advertisement action targeted to the request and themobile carrier data. The processor may append the mobile advertisementaction data to the mobile advertisement data. The processor may providethe mobile advertisement data with the appended mobile advertisementaction data to the mobile device via the interface.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages are, or will become,apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the followingfigures and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features and advantages be included withinthis description, be within the scope of the embodiments, and beprotected by the following claims and be defined by the followingclaims. Further aspects and advantages are discussed below inconjunction with the description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The system and/or method may be better understood with reference to thefollowing drawings and description. Non-limiting and non-exhaustivedescriptions are described with reference to the following drawings. Thecomponents in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis insteadbeing placed upon illustrating principles. In the figures, likereferenced numerals may refer to like parts throughout the differentfigures unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general overview of a system forproviding mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 2 is block diagram of a simplified view of a network environmentimplementing a system for providing mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operations of providing mobileadvertisements with mobile advertisement actions in the systems of FIG.1 and FIG. 2, or other systems for providing mobile advertisementactions.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating operations of mobile advertisementactions in the systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or other systems forproviding mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating steps that may be taken by a revenuegenerator in the systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or other systems forproviding mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operations of creating mobileadvertisement actions in the systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or othersystems for providing mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating several mobile advertisementactions of an advertisement served to a user in the systems of FIG. 1and FIG. 2, or other systems for providing mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an exemplary mobile device displaying amobile web page containing advertisements with mobile advertisementactions.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an exemplary mobile device displaying anemail message containing an advertisement with mobile advertisementactions.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an exemplary mobile device displaying anoffer landing page including an advertisement with mobile advertisementactions.

FIG. 11 is an illustration a general computer system that may be used ina system for providing mobile advertisement actions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description relates generally to a system and method,generally referred to as a system, for providing mobile advertisementactions, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to providing mobileadvertisement actions with a mobile advertisement to a user on a mobiledevice.

The system may allow advertisers to engage mobile users by providingusers with a simple interface for accessing multi-step mobile actions.The mobile advertisement actions may provide the users with a one clickinterface to a variety of complex mobile actions, such as making phonecalls, sending text message, purchasing products, making reservations,or generally any action that can be performed with a mobile phone.Accomplishing these actions in the prior art may have required a user toperform several clicks and/or switch applications and/or manuallyentering data with their mobile device. It may be burdensome for a userto perform those tasks with a mobile device. The mobile advertisementactions allow the users to accomplish these actions with one interactionwith their mobile device, such as a click or selection.

FIG. 1 provides a general overview of a system 100 for providing mobileadvertisement actions. Not all of the depicted components may berequired, however, and some implementations may include additionalcomponents. Variations in the arrangement and type of the components maybe made without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims as setforth herein. Additional, different or fewer components may be provided.

The system 100 may include one or more revenue generators 110A-N, suchas mobile advertisers, a service provider 130, such as a portal or anadvertising service provider, one or more mobile network operators(“MNOs”) 115A-N, more commonly referred to as mobile carriers, or simplycarriers, and one or more users 120AA-NN, such as mobile subscribers orconsumers. The service provider 130 may implement a mobile advertisingcampaign management system incorporating an auction based and/ornon-auction based advertisement serving system.

The mobile advertising campaign management system may support targetingadvertisements to the users 120AA-NN through a variety of mobileadvertising tactics, such as search targeting, content match targetingand behavioral profile targeting. Search targeting may refer totargeting advertisements, at least in part, to mobile keywords providedby the users, content match targeting may refer to targetingadvertisements, at least in part, to the content of a particular mobilepage, and behavioral profile targeting may refer to targetingadvertisements, at least in part, to the mobile behavior of the users120AA-NN. The service provider 130 may share revenue with the MNOs115A-N for displaying advertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N ontheir mobile networks. Alternatively or in addition the service provider130 may share revenue with individual mobile publishers for displayingadvertisements of the revenue generators 110A-N on their mobile sites.

The revenue generators 110A-N may pay the service provider 130 to serve,or display, advertisements of their goods or services, such as on-lineor mobile advertisements, to the users 120AA-NN, such as over mobilemessaging, mobile web, the Internet, or generally any mode of displayingadvertisements. The advertisements may include sponsored listings,banners ads, popup advertisements, mobile messages, or generally any wayof attracting the users 120AA-NN to the web site or mobile site of therevenue generators 110A-N. The revenue generators 110A-N may bid onspecific MNOs 115A-N to target their advertisements to. For example, therevenue generator A 110A may bid on one or more keywords searched forvia the MNO A 115A. In this case the mobile advertisements of therevenue generator A 110A may only be displayed to the users 120AA-NAwhen the users 120AA-NA search for the keywords through the MNO A 115A.

The MNOs 1115A-N may provide a mobile network to the users 120AA-NNwhich may provide a variety of services to the users 120AA-NN, such asthe ability to send and receive phone calls, send and receive mobilemessages, to access the internet and/or the mobile web, or generally anyservice that may be implemented on a mobile device. The MNOs 115A-N maystore data describing the users 120AA-NN, such as billing addresses,call histories, messaging histories, or generally any data regarding theusers 120AA-NN that may be available to the MNOs 115A-N.

The users 120AA-NN interacting with the service provider 130 on a mobiledevice may want to click on fewer links than a Web user before obtainingthe information that they seek. A mobile advertisement action isprovided that allows users 120AA-NN to directly click to a specifiedaction in a single step, without the need to navigate through multiplesteps to accomplish the action. Such a mobile advertisement action alsoallows increased functionality for revenue generators 110A-N who do nothave their own mobile webpage set up but who nonetheless want to provideextra functionality to users 120AA-NN.

A mobile advertisement action may be any functional object, item,applet, program, plug-in, or other device that allows a user AA 120AA toclick directly to an action associated with the mobile advertisement. Amobile advertisement action may be associated with a voice command sothat a user AA 120AA can activate the action by a voice command whilebrowsing a mobile web page. A mobile device may include otherfunctionality allowing accessibility by any other interaction with amobile webpage that is available.

Unlike clicking a hyperlink, which only directs a user AA 120AA to thewebpage address encoded in the hyperlink, mobile advertisement actionsmay provide a wide range of functionality when clicked on by a user AA120AA. Instead of simply directing a user AA 120AA to another webpage, amobile advertisement action may execute encoded or programmed functions.The mobile advertisement action itself may be a set of instructions orcomputer code. Alternatively or in addition the mobile advertisementaction may be a link that provides the instructions or code from theservice provider 130.

For example, if a user AA 120AA clicks on a mobile advertisement actionof an advertisement associated with a revenue generator A 110A, themobile advertisement action may cause the mobile device to dial thephone number of the revenue generator A 110A, make a reservation withthe revenue generator A 110A, display a map or directions to thephysical location of the revenue generator A 110A, program the addressof the revenue generator A 110A into a navigation system of a user AA120AA, purchase a product from the revenue generator A 110A, or mayperform any other function associated with the mobile device and therevenue generator A 110A. Several examples of specific mobileadvertisement actions are provided in FIG. 7.

The users 120AA-NN may be consumers of goods or services who may besearching for a business such as the business of one of the revenuegenerators 110A-N. The users 120AA-NN may communicate with the serviceprovider 130 through the MNOs 115A-N. The users 120AA-NN may supplyinformation describing themselves to the service provider 130, such asthe location, gender, mailing address, credit card information, or ageof the users 120AA-NN, or generally any information that may be requiredfor the users 120AA-NN to utilize the services provided by the serviceprovider 130. Alternatively or in addition the service provider 130 mayobtain information about the users 120AA-NN from the MNOs 115A-N.

In system 100, the revenue generators 110A-N may interact with theservice provider 130, such as via a web application. The revenuegenerators 110A-N may send information, such as billing, website ormobile site and advertisement information, to the service provider 130via the web application. The web application may include a web browseror other application such as any application capable of displaying webcontent. The application may be implemented with a processor such as apersonal computer, personal digital assistant, mobile phone, or anyother machine capable of implementing a web application.

The users 120AA-NN may also interact individually with the serviceprovider 130, through the MNOs 115A-N, such as via a mobile phone or anydevice capable of communicating with the MNOs 115A-N. The users 120AA-NNmay interact with the service provider 130 via a mobile web basedapplication, a mobile standalone application, or any application capableof running on a mobile device. The service provider 130 may communicatedata to the revenue generators 110A-N over a network and to the users120AA-NN over a network via the MNOs 115A-N. The following examples mayrefer to a revenue generator A 1110A as an online advertiser or mobileadvertiser; however the system 100 may apply to any revenue generators110A-N who may desire to serve advertisements over mobile devices.

In operation, one of the revenue generators 110A-N, such as revenuegenerator A 110A, may provide information to the service provider 130.This information may relate to the transaction taking place between therevenue generator A 110A and the service provider 130, or may relate toan account the revenue generator A 110A maintains with the serviceprovider 130. In the case of a revenue generator A 110A who is a mobileadvertiser, the revenue generator A 110A may provide initial informationnecessary to open an account with the service provider 130.

A revenue generator A 110A who is a mobile advertiser may maintain oneor more accounts with the service provider 130. For each account therevenue generator A 110A may maintain one or more campaigns. For eachcampaign the revenue generator A 110A may maintain one or more adgroups. An ad group may be associated with one or more MNOs 115A-N, andmay include one or more keywords, or categories, and one or more mobileadvertisements. Each advertisement may be associated with one or moremobile advertisement actions. A mobile advertisement may be providedwith associated mobile advertisement actions to a user AA 120AA when theuser AA 120AA interacts with the service provider 130 through an MNO A115A associated with the mobile advertisement. The service provider 130may verify that the mobile device of the user AA 120AA is capable ofperforming the mobile advertisement actions. If the mobile device is notcapable of performing a mobile advertisement action, the mobileadvertisement action may not be provided to the user AA 120AA. Therevenue generator A 110A may be able to associate different mobileadvertisement actions for each of the MNOS 115A-N associated with themobile advertisement.

A mobile advertisement action may be a clickable interactive objectembedded in an advertisement, such as a button or a link. The mobileadvertisement action may represent one or more operations that may beperformed by a mobile device, such as email, text messaging, phonecalling, or generally any operation that may be performed by a mobiledevice and may provide may provide enhanced advertising capabilities toa revenue generator A 110A. The mobile advertisement action may includedata specific to the revenue generator A 110A, such as the phone number,address, or generally any information specific to the revenue generatorA 110A. The mobile advertisement action may include a description suchas “Click to call,” “Click to SMS,” “Click to coupon,” “Click todownload,” “Click to survey,” “Click to make reservation,” “Click toattend event,” “Click to buy,” or generally any description that maydescribe the functionality provided by them mobile advertisement action.

When the user AA 120AA clicks on a mobile advertisement action of arevenue generator A 110A, the mobile advertisement action may cause themobile device of the user AA 120AA to perform the action associated withthe mobile advertisement action in accordance with the data of therevenue generator A 110A. For example, if the mobile advertisementaction is a mobile call action, then, when clicked on, the mobileadvertisement action may cause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA tocall a phone number associated with the revenue generator A 110A.Alternatively or in addition, when clicked on, the mobile advertisementaction may communicate with the service provider 130 and the serviceprovider 130 may cause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA to performthe specified action, such as by providing instructions to the mobiledevice and causing the instructions to be executed.

Alternatively or in addition if a revenue generator A 110A does not havea mobile site URL for an MNO A 115A the service provider 130 maydynamically create a “WAP ad.” The “WAP ad” may be an offer landing pagecontaining detailed information about the revenue generator A 110A. Thedetailed information may include the phone number of the revenuegenerator A 10A, a logo of the revenue generator A 110A, an address ofthe revenue generator A 110A, offers and coupons from the revenuegenerator A 110A, an SMS number, software or programs for download,survey materials, marketing materials, mobile advertisement actions, andany other relevant or business information about the revenue generator A110A. When a user AA 120AA clicks on the advertisement of the revenuegenerator A 110A who does not have a mobile site, the user AA 120AA maybe taken to the offer landing page showing the phone number, any mobileadvertisement actions, and/or logo of the revenue generator A 110A.

The keywords associated with an ad group may represent one or moresearch terms that the revenue generator A 110A wishes to associate withtheir advertisement generally, or with one or more of theadvertisement's mobile advertisement actions specifically. When a userAA 120AA searches for a search keyword via an MNO A 115A associated withthe ad group, the mobile advertisement and the associated mobileadvertisement actions of the revenue generator A 110A may be displayedon the search results page. The service provider 130 may also implementdirectory search implementations, where the user AA 120AA may clickthrough directories of families of related data. In this instance thesearch keyword may be the name of the directory the user AA 120AA clickson. Alternatively or in addition the user AA 120AA may interact with theservice provider 130 through an SMS search service or a voice searchservice.

For example, a revenue generator A 110A, such as MCDONALDS, may desireto target a mobile advertisement for a MCDONALDS BIG MAC to users120AA-NA on MNO A 115A searching for the keywords “BIG MAC.” MCDONALDSmay place a bid with the service provider 130 for the keyword “BIG MAC”on MNO A 115A. The revenue generator A 1110A may also provide anyvariety of information to the service provider 130 including theworldwide locations of its businesses, phone numbers of each businesslocations, coupons for one or more of its products, or any otherrelevant information or files. The mobile advertisement of the revenuegenerator A 110A may be displayed when one of the users 120AA-NA, suchas the user AA 120AA, interacts with the service provider 130 via theMNO A 115A. The user AA 120AA may search for the keyword “BIG MAC” ormay click through a directory named “BIG MAC.” In addition to displayinga description of a “BIG MAC,” the advertisement may also display any ofa number of mobile advertisement actions, such as a button to get acoupon for a “BIG MAC,” a button to call MCDONALDS, a button to getdirections to the MCDONALDS most proximate to the location of the userAA 120AA, or any other relevant mobile advertisement actions.Alternatively or in addition the service provider 130 may display theadvertisement for a “BIG MAC,” and the associated mobile advertisementactions, when the user AA 120AA is located near a MCDONALDS location.

When one of the users 120AA-NN, such as the user AA 120AA, interactswith the service provider 130, such as by searching for a keyword, theservice provider 130 may retain data describing the interaction with theuser AA 120AA. The retained data may include the keyword searched for,the geographic location of the user AA 120AA, and the date/time the userAA 120AA interacted with the service provider 130. The data may alsogenerally include any data available to the service provider 130 thatmay assist in describing the interaction with the user AA 120AA, ordescribing the user AA 120AA. The service provider 130 may also storedata that indicates whether a mobile advertisement of one of the revenuegenerators 110A-N, such as the revenue generator A 110A was displayed tothe user AA 120AA, and whether the user AA 120AA clicked on the mobileadvertisement or one or more of its mobile advertisement actions.

The service provider 130 may already have information relating to thegeographic location of the user AA 120AA and other informationdescribing the user AA 120AA, such as gender, age, etc. This informationmay have been previously supplied to the service provider 130 by theuser AA 120AA. Alternatively or in addition the service provider 130 mayobtain the location of the user AA 120AA based on the IP address of theuser AA 120AA, a location of a cell phone tower in communication withthe user, or a positioning system, such as a global positioning system(GPS), in communication with the mobile device. The service provider 130may use a current date/time stamp to store the date/time when the userAA 120AA interacted with the service provider 130. The service provider130 may use any of the information describing the user or the keywordsearched for by the user to evaluate the relevancy of an advertisementor one or more of its mobile advertisement actions to the search.

Furthermore, the service provider 130 may generate reports based on thedata collected from the users 120AA-NN and may communicate the reportsto the revenue generators 110A-N to assist the revenue generators 110A-Nin measuring the effectiveness of their mobile advertising campaigns.The reports may indicate the number of times the users 120AA-NN viewed amobile advertisement and/or mobile advertisement action of the revenuegenerators 110A-N, the number of times a mobile advertisement or mobileadvertisement action of the revenue generators 110A-N was clicked on bythe users 120AA-NN, or generally any information useful to the revenuegenerators 110A-N.

More detail regarding the aspects of a mobile advertising auction-basedsystems, as well as the structure, function and operation of the serviceprovider 130 as a mobile advertising provider, as mentioned above, canbe found in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/712,276,filed on Feb. 28, 2007, entitled, “SYSTEM FOR SERVING ADVERTISEMENTSOVER MOBILE DEVICES,” which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety. The systems and methods herein associated with mobileadvertising campaign management may be practiced in combination withmethods and systems described in the above-identified patent applicationincorporated by reference.

FIG. 2 provides a simplified view of a network environment implementinga system 200 for serving advertisements including mobile advertisementactions over mobile devices. Not all of the depicted components may berequired, however, and some implementations may include additionalcomponents not shown in the figure. Variations in the arrangement andtype of the components may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the claims as set forth herein. Additional, different or fewercomponents may be provided.

The system 200 may include one or more web applications, standaloneapplications and mobile applications 210A-N, which may be collectivelyor individually referred to as client applications of the revenuegenerators 110A-N. The system 200 may also include one or more mobileapplications, or mobile apps 220AA-NN, which may collectively bereferred to as client applications of the users 120AA-NN, orindividually as a user client application. The system 200 may alsoinclude one or more MNO gateway servers 215A-N, a network 230, a network235, the service provider server 240, a third party server 250, and anadvertising services server 260.

Some or all of the advertisement services server 260, service providerserver 240, and third-party server 250 may be in communication with eachother by way of network 235 and may be the system or componentsdescribed below in FIG. 11. The advertisement services server 260,third-party server 250 and service provider server 240 may eachrepresent multiple linked computing devices. Multiple distinct thirdparty servers, such as the third-party server 250, may be included inthe system 200. The third-party server 250 may be an MNO gateway server215A-N or a server associated with, or in communication with an MNOgateway server 215A-N.

The networks 230, 235 may include wide area networks (WAN), such as theInternet, local area networks (LAN), campus area networks, metropolitanarea networks, or any other networks that may allow for datacommunication. The network 230 may include the Internet and may includeall or part of network 235; network 235 may include all or part ofnetwork 230. The networks 230, 235 may be divided into sub-networks. Thesub-networks may allow access to all of the other components connectedto the networks 230, 235 in the system 200, or the sub-networks mayrestrict access between the components connected to the networks 230,235. The network 235 may be regarded as a public or private networkconnection and may include, for example, a virtual private network or anencryption or other security mechanism employed over the publicInternet, or the like.

The revenue generators 110A-N may use a web application 210A, standaloneapplication 210B, or a mobile application 210N, or any combinationthereof, to communicate to the service provider server 240, such as viathe networks 230, 235. The service provider server 240 may communicateto the revenue generators 110A-N via the networks 230, 235, through theweb applications, standalone applications or mobile applications 210A-N.

The users 120AA-NN may use a mobile application 220AA-220NN, such as amobile web browser, to communicate with the service provider server 240,via the MNO gateway servers 215A-N and the networks 230, 235. Theservice provider server 240 may communicate to the users 120AA-NN viathe networks 230, 235 and the MNOs 215A-N, through the mobileapplications 220AA-NN.

The web applications, standalone applications and mobile applications210A-N, 220AA-NN may be connected to the network 230 in anyconfiguration that supports data transfer. This may include a dataconnection to the network 230 that may be wired or wireless. Any of theweb applications, standalone applications and mobile applications210A-N, 220AA-NN may individually be referred to as a clientapplication. The web application 210A may run on any platform thatsupports web content, such as a web browser or a computer, a mobilephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), pager, network-enabledtelevision, digital video recorder, such as TIVO®, automobile and/or anyappliance capable of data communications.

The standalone applications 210B may run on a machine that may have aprocessor, memory, a display, a user interface and a communicationinterface. The processor may be operatively connected to the memory,display, and the interfaces and may perform tasks at the request of thestandalone applications 210B or the underlying operating system. Thememory may be capable of storing data. The display may be operativelyconnected to the memory and the processor and may be capable ofdisplaying information to the revenue generator B 110B. The userinterface may be operatively connected to the memory, the processor, andthe display and may be capable of interacting with a revenue generator A110A. The communication interface may be operatively connected to thememory, and the processor, and may be capable of communicating throughthe networks 230, 235 with the service provider server 240, third partyserver 250 and advertising services server 260. The standaloneapplications 210B may be programmed in any programming language thatsupports communication protocols. These languages may include: SUN JAVA,C++, C#, ASP, SUN JAVASCRIPT, asynchronous SUN JAVASCRIPT, or ADOBEFLASH ACTIONSCRIPT, amongst others.

The mobile applications 210N, 220AA-NN may run on any mobile devicewhich may have a data connection. The mobile applications 210N, 220AA-NNmay be a web application 210A, a standalone application 210B, or amobile browser. The mobile device may be one of a broad range ofelectronic devices which may include mobile phones, PDAs, and laptopsand notebook computers. The mobile device may have a reduced featureset, such as a smaller keyboard and/or screen, and may be incapable ofsupporting a traditional web search.

The data connection of the mobile device may be a cellular connection,such as a GSM/GPRS/WCDMA connection, a wireless data connection, aninternet connection, an infra-red connection, a Bluetooth connection, orany other connection capable of transmitting data. The data connectionmay be used to connect directly to the network 230, or to connect to thenetwork 230 through the MNO gateway servers 215A-N. The MNO gatewayservers 215A-N may control the access the mobile applications 210AA-NNmay have to the network. The MNO gateway servers 215A-N may also controlthe technology supporting the respective mobile applications 220AA-NN.This may affect all aspects of the user experience, such as signalstrength and availability, speed and billing mechanisms. For example,the MNO gateway server A 215A may only allow the users 120AA-NA accessto content provided by partners of the MNO A 115A. Furthermore, the MNOgateway servers 215A-N may only allow users 120AA-NN access to data in aspecific format, such as WML, XHTML, NTT DOCOMO IMODE HTML, or cHTML.Alternatively or in addition, the mobile applications 220AA-NN may onlysupport one of the aforementioned formats.

The service provider server 240 may include one or more of thefollowing: an application server, a data source, such as a databaseserver, a middleware server, and an advertising services server. Onemiddleware server may be a mobile commerce platform, such as the YAHOO!SUSHI platform, which may properly encode data, such as mobile pages ormobile advertisements, to the formats specific to the MNO gatewayservers 215A-N. The service provider server 240 may co-exist on onemachine or may be running in a distributed configuration on one or moremachines. The service provider server 240 may collectively be referredto as the server. The service provider server 240 may receive requestsfrom the users 120AA-NN and the revenue generators 110A-N and may servemobile pages to the users 120AA-NN and web pages and/or mobile pages tothe revenue generators 110A-N based on their requests.

The third party server 250 may include one or more of the following: anapplication server, a data source, such as a database server, amiddleware server, and an advertising services server. The third partyserver 250 may co-exist on one machine or may be running in adistributed configuration on one or more machines. The advertisingservices server 260 may provide a platform for the inclusion ofadvertisements with mobile advertisement actions in pages, such as webpages or mobile pages. The advertisement services server 260 may be usedfor providing mobile advertisements and/or mobile advertisement actionsthat may be displayed to the users 120AA-NN.

The service provider server 240, the third party server 250 and theadvertising services server 260 may be one or more computing devices ofvarious kinds, such as the computing device in FIG. 11. Such computingdevices may generally include any device that may be configured toperform computation and that may be capable of sending and receivingdata communications by way of one or more wired and/or wirelesscommunication interfaces. Such devices may be configured to communicatein accordance with any of a variety of network protocols, including butnot limited to protocols within the Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite. For example, the webapplication 210A may employ HTTP to request information, such as a webpage, from a web server, which may be a process executing on the serviceprovider server 240 or the third-party server 250.

There may be several configurations of database servers, applicationservers, middleware servers and advertising services servers included inthe service provider server 240 or the third party server 250. Databaseservers may include MICROSOFT SQL SERVER, ORACLE, IBM DB2 or any otherdatabase software, relational or otherwise. The application server maybe APACHE TOMCAT, MICROSOFT IIS, ADOBE COLDFUSION, YAPACHE or any otherapplication server that supports communication protocols. The middlewareserver may be any middleware that connects software components orapplications. The application server on the service provider server 240or the third party server 250 may serve pages, such as web pages to theusers 120AA-NN and the revenue generators 110A-N. The advertisingservices server 260 may provide a platform for the inclusion ofadvertisements with mobile advertisement actions in pages, such as webpages. The advertising services server 260 may also exist independent ofthe service provider server 240 and the third party server 250.

The networks 230, 235 may be configured to couple one computing deviceto another computing device to enable communication of data between thedevices. The networks 230, 235 may generally be enabled to employ anyform of machine-readable media for communicating information from onedevice to another. Each of networks 230, 235 may include one or more ofa wireless network, a wired network, a local area network (LAN), a widearea network (WAN), a direct connection such as through a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) port, and the like, and may include the set ofinterconnected networks that make up the Internet. The networks 230, 235may include any communication method by which information may travelbetween computing devices. Other systems and methods such as the systemand methods of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/712,276, incorporatedherein by reference, may be used.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operations of serving mobileadvertisements including mobile advertisement actions in the systems ofFIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or other systems for providing mobile advertisementactions. At block 305 the service provider 130 may receive a request fora mobile advertisement. The mobile advertisement request may be relatedto a request from the user AA 120AA, such as a search request.Alternatively or in addition the mobile advertisement request may berelated to content being viewed by the user AA 120AA, or may be relatedto the behavior of the user AA 120AA. The service provider 130 may alsoidentify other associated data about the mobile device of the user AA120AA, such as the type of device making the request, the bandwidthavailable, availability of Internet service, or any other necessaryparameters.

Alternatively or in addition the system 100 may check whether a locationfor the mobile device of the user AA 120AA is available. Location may bedetermined by data sent from a positioning system locator incommunication with the mobile device of the user AA 120AA.Alternatively, location of the mobile device of the user AA 120AA may bedetermined by data sent to the service provider 130 such as the IPaddress of the requesting user AA 120AA or an identifying code of alocation of a cell phone tower in communication with mobile device ofuser AA 120AA. Alternatively, the user AA 120AA may provide their ownlocation such as by entering an address or a landmark on their mobiledevice. Depending on the data available, the location of user AA 120AAmay thus be determined to any of varying degrees of preciseness.

At block 310 the service provider 130 may analyze the request and theassociated data to determine the mobile carrier associated with themobile device of the user AA 120AA, such as the MNO A 115A. At block 315the service provider 130 may determine a mobile advertisement associatedwith the MNO A 115A, and/or the associated data, such as the requestfrom the user AA 120AA.

At block 320 the service provider 130 may determine whether any mobileadvertisement actions are associated with the mobile advertisement forthe mobile carrier A 115A. If there are mobile advertisement actionsassociated with the mobile advertisement for the mobile carrier A 115A,the system 100 may move to block 325. At block 325 the service provider130 may determine the functionality supported by the mobile device ofthe user AA 120AA. The service provider 130 may determine thefunctionality supported by the mobile device based on data associatedwith the request, based on data previously submitted by the user AA120AA, based on data received from the MNO A 115A, or generally based onany data that may be indicative of the functions supported by the mobiledevice.

At block 330 the service provider 130 may determine which of the mobileadvertisement actions associated with the mobile advertisement and theMNO A 115A to provide to the user AA 120AA. The service provider 130 mayonly provide mobile advertisement actions that provide functionalitysupported by the mobile device of the user AA 120AA. The serviceprovider 130 may use the functionality determined at block 325 todetermine which mobile advertisement actions to provide to the user AA120AA. For example, if the mobile device of the user AA 120AA does notsupport text messaging, the service provider 130 may not provide amobile advertisement action for text messaging.

At block 335 the service provider 130 may retrieve data associated withthe revenue generator A 110A related to the mobile advertisementactions. For example, if one of the mobile advertisement actions is acall action, the service provider 130 may retrieve the phone number ofthe revenue generator A 110A. At block 340 the service provider 130 maygenerate the mobile advertisement actions based on the type of mobileadvertisement action, the technology supported by the mobile device ofthe user AA 120AA, and the data associated with the revenue generator A110A. Alternatively or in addition the service provider 130 may generatea link that communicates a request to the service provider 130identifying the mobile advertisement action. When the user AA 120AAclicks on the mobile advertisement action the link may communicate arequest to the service provider 130 for the data implementing the mobileadvertisement action. The service provider 130 may then communicate thedata implementing the mobile advertisement action to the mobile deviceof the user AA 120AA. When the user AA 120AA has limited bandwidth itmay be beneficial to only communicate links requesting the dataimplementing the actions. The mobile call actions may be implementedthrough data, code, or instructions.

At block 345 the service provider 130 may append the generated mobileadvertisement actions to the mobile advertisement. The mobileadvertisement actions may be represented by a link or a button in theadvertisement. The mobile advertisement actions may be located anywhereon the advertisement, such as the bottom of the advertisement. At block350 the service provider 130 may provide the mobile advertisement,including the appended mobile advertisement actions, to the user AA120AA.

If, at block 320, there are no mobile advertisement actions associatedwith the mobile advertisement and the MNO A 115A, the system 100 maymove to block 350. At block 350 the service provider 130 may provide themobile advertisement, without any mobile advertisement actions, to theuser AA 120AA.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating operations of mobile advertisementactions in the systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or other systems forproviding mobile advertisement actions. At block 402 the serviceprovider 130 may receive a request for a mobile advertisement actionassociated with a mobile advertisement of the revenue generator A 110A.The request may originate from a mobile advertisement action provided tothe user AA 120AA with a link referencing the service provider 130. Thelink may request the service provider 130 to provide the additional datanecessary to perform the mobile advertisement action.

At block 404 the service provider 130 may determine the mobile carrierassociated with the mobile device requesting the mobile advertisementaction, such as the MNO A 115A. At block 406 the service provider 130may determine the type of mobile advertisement action requested. Thetype of mobile advertisement action may be identifiable through therequest. At block 410 the service provider 130 may determine whether themobile advertisement action is a call ad action. If the mobileadvertisement action is a call ad action, the system 100 may move toblock 412. At block 412 the service provider 130 may determine the phonenumber associated with the revenue generator A 110A. At block 414 theservice provider 130 may cause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA tocall the number of the revenue generator A 110A, such as by generatingcode capable of causing the mobile device to call the number,communicating the code to the mobile device and causing the code to beexecuted on the mobile device.

If, at block 410, the action type is not a call action, the system 100may move to block 420. At block 420 the service provider 130 maydetermine whether the requested action is a message action. If therequested action is a message action the system 100 may move to block422. At block 422 the service provider 130 may determine a messagingprotocol supported by the mobile device of the user AA 120AA, such asemail, text messaging, or generally any messaging protocol implementedon mobile devices. If the mobile device supports more than one messagingprotocol, the service provider 130 may attempt to determine a default orpreferred protocol. At block 425 the service provider 130 may determinethe messaging address of the revenue generator A 110A for the determinedmessaging protocol, such as an email address, a text messaging number,or generally any messaging address. At block 426 the service provider130 may cause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA to create a messageaddressed to the revenue generator A 110A, such as by generating codecapable of causing the mobile device to generate the message,communicating the code to the mobile device and causing the code to beexecuted on the mobile device. Alternatively or in addition the serviceprovider 130 may cause the mobile device to generate the message andsend the message to the revenue generator A 110A, such as for a voteover text messaging.

If, at block 420 the mobile advertisement action is not a messageaction, the system 100 may move to block 430. At block 430 the serviceprovider 130 may determine whether the mobile advertisement action is achat action. If, at block 420, the mobile advertisement action is a chataction, the system 100 may move to block 432. At block 432 the system100 may determine the chat address of the revenue generator A 110A. Thechat address may be a phone number, a Internet-based address, a voiceover internet protocol address, an instant messenger address, orgenerally any address capable of supporting a chat session on the mobiledevice of the user AA 120AA. At block 434 the service provider 130 maycause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA to initiate a chat sessionwith the revenue generator A 110A, such as by generating code capable ofcausing the mobile device to initiate the chat session, communicatingthe code to the mobile device, and causing the code to be executed onthe mobile device.

If, at block 430, the mobile advertisement action is not a chat action,the system 100 may move to block 440. At block 440 the system 100 maydetermine whether the mobile advertisement action is a mapping action.If, at block 440, the mobile advertisement action is a mapping action,the system 100 may move to block 442. At block 442 the service provider130 may determine whether the location of the user AA 120AA can beautomatically determined. The location of the user AA 120AA may beautomatically determined through a positioning system, such as GPS,through the triangulation of a cell phone signal, through informationprovided by the user AA 120AA, or generally through any means ofdetermining the location of a mobile user. If, at block 442, the serviceprovider 130 can not determine the location of the user AA 120AA, thesystem 100 may move to block 444. At block 444 the service provider 130may request the user AA 120AA provide their location. At block 445 theservice provider 130 may receive the location of the user AA 120AA fromthe user AA 120AA.

If, at block 442, the service provider 130 is able to determine thelocation of the user AA 120AA, the system 100 may move to block 446. Atblock 446 the service provider 130 may determine the address of therevenue generator A 110A. At block 447 the service provider 130 maydetermine the directions from the location of the user AA 120AA to theaddress associated with the revenue generator A 110A. The serviceprovider 130 may operate a mapping engine, or the third party server 250may provide mapping functionality. At block 448 the service provider 130may cause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA to display thedirections to the location of the revenue generator A 110A, such as bygenerating code capable of causing the mobile device to display thedirections, communicating the code to the mobile device, and causing thecode to be executed on the mobile device.

If, at block 440, the mobile advertisement action is not a mappingaction, the system 100 may move to block 450. At block 450 the serviceprovider 130 may determine whether the mobile advertisement action is apurchase action. If, at block 450, the mobile advertisement action is apurchase action, the system 100 may move to block 452. At block 452 theservice provider 130 may determine the product of the revenue generatorA 110A that is advertised in the advertisement associated with themobile advertisement action. At block 454 the service provider may causethe mobile device of the user AA 120AA to display a purchase screen forthe product, such as by generating code capable of causing the mobiledevice to display the purchase screen, communicating the code to themobile device, and causing the code to be executed on the mobile device.Alternatively or in addition the service provider 130 may cause themobile device of the user AA 120AA to purchase the product. The user AA120AA may need to associate a form of payment with their mobile device,such as a credit card. Alternatively or in addition the charges for thepurchase may be applied to the phone bill of the user AA 120AA.

If, at block 450, the mobile advertisement action is not a purchaseaction, the system 100 may move to block 460. At block 460 the serviceprovider 130 may determine whether the mobile advertisement action issome other type of mobile advertisement action. If, at block 460, theservice provider 130 determines that the mobile advertisement action issome other type of mobile advertisement action, the system 100 may moveto block 462. At block 462 the service provider 130 may determine datarelevant to the mobile advertisement action, such as data associatedwith the revenue generator A 110A. At block 464 the service provider 130may cause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA to perform the mobileadvertisement action, such as by generating code capable of causing themobile device to perform the action, communicating the code to themobile device, and causing the code to be executed on the mobile device.

If, at block 460, the service provider 130 determines that the actiontype of the requested mobile advertisement action is not a known actiontype, the service provider 130 may communicate an error message to theuser AA 120AA. Alternatively or in addition if the action type is notsupported by the mobile device of the user AA 120AA, the serviceprovider 130 may provide an error message to the user AA 120AA.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating steps that may be taken by a revenuegenerator in the systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or other systems forproviding mobile advertisement actions. At block 510 one of the revenuegenerators 110A-N, such as the revenue generator A 110A, may interactwith the service provider 130, such as logging into a web site providedby the service provider 130. At block 520 the revenue generator A 110Amay provide a mobile advertisement to the service provider 130, such asa mobile advertisement to associate with an ad group. At block 530 therevenue generator A 110A may associate the mobile advertisement with oneor more MNOs 115A-N, such as the MNO A 115A. At block 535 the revenuegenerator A 110A may indicate whether they would like to associatemobile advertisement actions with the mobile advertisement.

If, at block 535, the revenue generator A 110A would like to associatemobile advertisement actions with the mobile advertisement, the system100 may move to block 540. At block 540 the revenue generator A 110A mayselect one or more types of mobile advertisement actions to associatewith the mobile advertisement. At block 545 the service provider 130 mayrequest any additional information required to implement the selectedmobile advertisement actions, such as the phone number of the revenuegenerator A 110A for a call action. If, at block 545, additional data isrequested by the service provider 130, the system 100 may move to block550. At block 550 the revenue generator A 110A may provide theadditional data requested by the service provider 130. The serviceprovider 130 may then associate the mobile advertisement actions withthe mobile advertisement and the MNO A 1115A.

If, at block 535, the revenue generator A 110A does not wish toassociate any mobile call actions with the mobile advertisement and theMNO A 115A, the system 100 may move to block 555. If, at block 545, theservice provider 130 does not request any additional data the system 100may move to block 555. At block 555 the revenue generator A 110A mayindicate whether they would like to associate another one of the MNOs115B-N with the mobile advertisement. If, at block 555 the revenuegenerator A 110A indicates that they would like to associate another oneof the MNOs 115B-N with the mobile advertisement the system 100 may moveto block 530 and repeat the process.

If, at block 555, the revenue generator A 110A indicates that they donot wish to associate another one of the MNOs 115B-N with the mobileadvertisement, the system 100 may move to block 565. At block 565 therevenue generator A 110A may indicate whether they wish to provideanother mobile advertisement to the service provider 130. If, at block565, the revenue generator A 110A indicates they would like to providean additional mobile advertisement to the service provider 130 thesystem 100 may move to block 520. At block 520 the revenue generator A110A may provide the additional advertisement to the service provider130 and repeat the process.

If, at block 565, the revenue generator A 110A indicates that they donot wish to provide any other mobile advertisements to the serviceprovider 130, the system 100 may move to block 570. At block 570 therevenue generator A 110A may logout of the web site of the serviceprovider 130.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operations of creating mobileadvertisement actions in the systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or othersystems for providing mobile advertisement actions. At block 610 theservice provider 130 may receive a mobile advertisement from one of therevenue generators 110A-N. The mobile advertisement may be received inthe process of creating, or modifying, an ad group. At block 620 theservice provider 130 may receive an association of one of the MNOs115A-N, such as the MNO A 115A, with the mobile advertisement from therevenue generator A 110A. Alternatively or in addition the revenuegenerator A 110A may have previously associated one or more MNOs 115A-Nwith the ad group. At block 625 the service provider 130 may receive anindication from the revenue generator A 110A as to whether the revenuegenerator A 110A would like to associate mobile advertisement actionswith the mobile advertisement for the MNO A 115A.

If, at block 625, the service provider 130 receives an indication thatthe revenue generator A 110A would like to associate mobileadvertisement actions with the mobile advertisement for the MNO A 115Athe system 100 may move to block 630. At block 630 the service provider130 may receive a selection of the types of mobile advertisement actionsto associate with the mobile advertisement for the MNO A 115A. At block640 the service provider 130 may determine whether the selected types ofmobile advertisement actions require additional information from therevenue generator A 110A. For example, a call action may require a phonenumber of the revenue generator A 110A, while a mapping action mayrequire an address of the revenue generator A 110A. The service provider130 may be able to retrieve the required information from dataassociated with the account of the revenue generator A 110A stored inthe data store 245. If the required data is not stored in the data store245 then the service provider 130 may need to request the additionaldata from the revenue generator A 110A.

If, at block 645, the service provider 130 needs to request additionaldata from the revenue generator A 110A, then the system 100 may move toblock 650. At block 650 the service provider 130 may request additionaldata from the revenue generator A 110A. At block 660 the serviceprovider 130 may store the additional data provided by the revenuegenerator A 110A, such as in the data store 245. If, at block 645, noadditional information is necessary from the revenue generator A 110A,then the system 100 may move to block 665. At block 665 the serviceprovider 130 may generate the mobile advertisement actions based on thedata associated with the revenue generator A 110A and the MNO A 115A. Atblock 670 the service provider 130 may store the selected mobileadvertisement actions.

If, at block 625, the revenue generator A 110A does not indicate thatthey would like to associate mobile advertisement actions with themobile advertisement, and the MNO A 115A, the system 100 may move toblock 680. At block 680 the service provider 130 may store the mobileadvertisement and the association between the mobile advertisement, theMNO A 115A, and any selected mobile advertisement actions.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating descriptions of several mobileadvertisement actions 700 which may be served to users 120AA-NN asdescribed in FIGS. 1-6 or in other systems for providing mobileadvertisement actions. The mobile advertisement actions may be any of aplurality of action items presented as text, images, buttons, or anyother suitable device to provide the users 120AA-NN with a direct linkto any number of specified actions. Mobile advertisement actions mayprovide the users 120AA-NN with direct access to an action withouthaving to navigate through multiple screens, applications, or variouswebpages to otherwise accomplish the action. The mobile advertisementactions may reduce the amount of input the users 120AA-NN must provideto accomplish a mobile action. The revenue generator A 110A may selectany number of mobile advertisement actions to be communicated to theuser AA 120AA with the mobile advertisement.

Revenue generator A 110A may provide relevant information to serviceprovider 130 to enable mobile advertisement actions on an advertisement.This may be accomplished during an initial set-up process or at a latertime. Mobile advertisement actions may be set to be static or dynamic.Static mobile advertisement actions may be displayed with theadvertisement every time the advertisement is displayed on a mobiledevice. The phone number of revenue generator A 110A, which only has onecontact phone number, may be one such static mobile advertisementaction. In this case the phone number may be presented with theadvertisement at all times allowing the user to click on a “click tocall” mobile advertisement action 705 which directs the mobile device ofthe user AA 120AA to dial the revenue generator A 110A who provided theadvertisement. Alternatively or in addition a dynamic mobileadvertisement action may vary when displayed to a mobile device with theadvertisement. Revenue generator A 110A may set the mobile advertisementactions to vary based on time, date, day of the week, location of theuser or other parameters. For example, where a revenue generator A 110Ais a chain of stores, the “click to call” action 705 may dial a store ofthe revenue generator A 110A that is located closest to the location ofthe mobile device of the user AA 120AA. The call actions described belowhave been given descriptions to better describe their functions.However, it is to be noted that call actions may be named or describedby any suitable term even though they may have similar functions.

One mobile action may include the previously mentioned “click to call”action 705. Clicking a “click to call” action 705 allows user AA 120AAto initiate a direct call to a phone number associated with theadvertisement. The mobile device of user AA 120AA may dial the mobileadvertisement action phone number directly without further input fromuser AA 120AA. Revenue generator A 110A may need to provide a contactphone number during the set-up process to enable “click to call” action705. Alternatively, a “click to call” action 705 may submit the phonenumber of user AA 120AA to the revenue generator A 110A for latercallback from the revenue generator A 110A. Revenue generator A 110A mayprovide several phone numbers to correspond with its various locations.

Another mobile action may include a “click to message” action 710.Clicking a “click to message” action 710 allows user AA 120AA to send amessage directly to the contact phone number or email of revenuegenerator A 110A. The message may be any of the available messagingsystems such as short message service (SMS) or Multimedia MessagingService (MMS). Additionally, the message may be sent from the emailaccount of user AA 120AA. The message may be any message such as aquestion or response to the advertisement from the user AA 120AA to therevenue generator A 110A. The message may also be a message with anintegrated picture, sound, or file that the user AA 120AA wishes toprovide to the revenue generator A 110A. Revenue generator A 110A mayneed to provide a phone number, email address, or other contactinformation to receive the message from user AA 120AA.

Another mobile action may include a “click to chat” action 720. Clickinga “click to chat” action 720 allows user AA 120AA to initiate a chatsession, such as a text chat, with revenue generator A 110A or anotherdesignated chattee. The chat may be conducted via a chat room, aninstant messaging service, or any other available chat service. Revenuegenerator A 110A may need to provide a contact chat service name such asfor example its user name for YAHOO! MESSENGER. If the mobile device ofuser AA 120AA has video transmission capability, the video transmissionmay be integrated with the “click to chat” action 720.

Another mobile advertisement action may include a “click to location”action 730. A revenue generator A 110A wishing to direct a user AA 120AAto a physical location may communicate its location or locations to theservice provider 130. Clicking a “click to location” action 730 allowsthe user AA 120AA to be directed via a map, audio commands, textcommands, or email directions, to the location provided by revenuegenerator A 110A. Where the location of user AA 120AA is known from apositioning system locator, an IP address, a pre-set location, auser-provided location, a cell phone tower address, or other means,directions directly from the location of the user AA 120AA may also beprovided. If a revenue generator A 110A has more than one designatedphysical location, the location most proximal to the location of user AA120AA, or a pre-determined location, may be provided. A user AA 120AAmay also select which location of revenue generator A 110A they areinterested in when they select a “click to call” action 730.

Another mobile advertisement action may include a “click to coupon”action 740. Clicking a “click to coupon” action 740 allows user AA 120AAto obtain a coupon or discount to the business of the revenue generatorA 110A. The revenue generator A 110A may provide the information for thecoupons or discounts during the set-up process and/or update thisinformation at a later time. The revenue generator A 110A may change thecoupons daily, weekly, or at any other selected time intervals. Afterclicking the “click to coupon” action 740 the coupon may be communicatedto user AA 120AA via SMS, MMS, email, or any other method ofcommunication. The coupons provided to user AA 120AA may be static andpre-selected by revenue generator A 110A before the user AA 120AAsubmits any search requests. Alternatively, the coupons may bedynamically selected and may be selected based on submitted user orrequest parameters.

Another mobile advertisement action may include a “click to download”action 750. Clicking a “click to download” action 750 allows the user AA120AA to download information or programs provided by revenue generatorA 110A and communicated by service provider 130. A service provider 130may, for example, provide a downloadable menu to a restaurant, aringtone, a software program, or any other downloadable item. The userAA 120AA may then download these items by clicking on the “click todownload” action 750 that is displayed as part of an advertisement.

Another mobile advertisement action may include a “click to makereservation” action 760. A revenue generator A 110A may provideinformation allowing the user AA 120AA to make a reservation at itsbusiness. For example, if revenue generator A 110A is a restaurant, theuser AA 120AA may submit a reservation for dinner via a “click to makereservation” action 760. In one instance a “click to make reservation”action 760 may be integrated with the “click to call” action 705, sothat the call is directed to the reservation section of the restaurant.In another instance a “click to make reservation” action 760 may beintegrated with a “click to message” action 710, so that the user AA120AA sends a message to the restaurant with the number of people ortime of arrival to the restaurant. The “click to make reservation”action 760 can be integrated with various other call actions.

Another mobile advertisement action may include a “click to survey”action 770. A revenue generator A 110A may provide a survey to user AA120AA. Clicking the “click to survey” action 770 may direct the user AA120AA to a mobile webpage with a survey. Alternatively or in additionthe survey may be delivered to user AA 120AA via an SMS or series ofSMS, or through an associated email address. Alternatively or inaddition the user AA 120AA may be directed to the phone numberassociated with the survey and may conduct the survey over voicecommunications. In this way, a “click to survey” action 770 may functionsimilarly to a “click to call” action 705.

Another mobile advertisement action may include a “click to purchase”action 780. A revenue generator A 110A may put an image, description,video, or audio of a product into the advertisement. Clicking a “clickto purchase” action 780 may take the user AA 120AA directly to acheckout page for the revenue generator A 110A, without the need toclick any other links. A user AA 120AA may pre-submit their credit cardinformation and address to MNO A 115A or service provider 130 or revenuegenerator A 110A, allowing the “click to purchase” action 780 to act asan instant checkout feature from the revenue generator A 110A.

Another mobile advertisement action may include an “email marketing”action 790. A revenue generator A 110A may provide email marketingmaterials that are delivered to the email of user AA 120AA on theactivation of the “email marketing” action 790. Marketing materials mayinclude newsletters, product information, lists or any other relevantmaterials.

These mobile advertisement actions are only several of those that areavailable with the integration of system 100. These descriptions arenon-limiting and non-exhaustive and are meant to describe only some ofthe available possibilities of system 100.

FIG. 8 is an illustration 800 of an exemplary mobile device used in thesystems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or other systems for providing mobileadvertisement actions. The mobile web page 805 contains advertisements830, 840 with mobile advertisement actions 835, 836, 837, 838, 845, 846,847, 848. User AA 120AA may submit a search request to a search enginesuch as by typing a search term into a field on the webpage 805. In thisexample, the user AA 120AA submits the keyword “shoes” via a mobile websearch engine. The system 100 communicates the search results 810 to themobile application 220AA of user AA 120AA. The search results 810 aredisplayed to the mobile device via the mobile webpage 805. The webpage805 may contain the web address of the resulting search page 820. System100 may also communicate the mobile advertisements 830, 840 of one ormore of the revenue generators 110A-N, such as the revenue generator A1110A. The mobile advertisement 830 may include a mobile call action835, a mobile mapping action 836, a mobile coupon action 837 and amobile messaging action 838. The mobile advertisement 840 may include amobile call action 845, a mobile mapping action 846, a mobile emailaction 847 and a mobile purchase action 848. Other mobile advertisementactions are possible and can be created to accommodate the needs ofrevenue generator A 110A.

The mobile advertisements 830, 840 and the mobile advertisement actions835, 836, 837, 838, 845, 846, 847, 848 may be targeted to the keywordsearched for by the user AA 120AA. Other call actions may includesending the revenue generator A 110A a message, such as an instantmessage, or providing a direct link to discounted merchandise or acoupon of the revenue generator or others. The advertisements 830, 840may have a title 832, 842 and short description 833, 843 explaining theadvertisement. Title 832, 842 may be clickable and direct the user to aweb page or a mobile landing page of the revenue generator A 110A asexplained earlier. Mobile advertisement actions 835, 836, 837, 838, 845,846, 847, 848 may be clickable directly from the mobile webpage 805without clicking on any intermediary webpages. Clicking any of themobile advertisement actions 835, 836, 837, 838, 845, 846, 847, 848 maycause the mobile device of the user AA 120AA to execute thefunctionality of the mobile advertisement action. Alternatively,clicking on the titles 832, 842 or any area of the advertisements 830,840 other than the mobile advertisement actions 835, 836, 837, 838, 845,846, 847, 848 may directs the user AA 120AA to a new webpage where theadvertisement is enlarged and displayed by itself on the screen of themobile device, as shown in FIG. 10. Alternatively, clicking on thetitles 832, 842 or any area of the advertisements 830, 840 other thanthe mobile advertisement actions 835, 836, 837, 838, 845, 846, 847, 848may direct the user AA 120AA to a mobile web page of the revenuegenerator A 110A.

Revenue generator A 110A may choose which of the mobile advertisementactions 705, 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 760, 770, 780, 790 are displayedin the advertisements 830, 840. Alternatively, the mobile advertisementactions 835, 836, 837, 838, 845, 846, 847, 848 may be dynamicallyselected based on submitted user and request parameters. Two differentmobile advertisements 830, 840 may therefore have different mobileadvertisement actions associated with them as shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 is an illustration 900 of an exemplary mobile device displayingan email message 905. The email message 905 may have a header line 910,a message line 920, and may contain one or more mobile advertisements930 with a mobile call action 937, a mobile mapping action 935, and amobile reservation action 936. Other mobile advertisement actions mayalso be included, such as the mobile advertisement actions 605, 610,620, 630, 640, 650, 660, 670, 680, 690 described in FIG. 6. Mobileapplications 220AA-NN may receive and process emails. Advertisements maybe selected and delivered via email similar to their selection anddelivery through a mobile Web search. For example, service provider 130may automatically content match email text 920 or header text 910 withkeywords. The resulting targeted advertisement 930 with mobileadvertisement actions 935, 936, 937. The mobile advertisement actions935, 936, 937 associated with the advertisement 930 are clickable andallow a user AA 120AA to click on any of the mobile actions 935, 936,937 if they are interested in the advertisement 930.

Additionally, an advertisement 930 with mobile advertisement actions935, 936, 937 displayed in the email 905 may have several advantages.For example, it may allow a user AA 120AA to utilize mobileadvertisement actions 935, 936, 937 without having to connect to theInternet. This may be advantageous for users 120AA-NN who download theiremail at one time period, but want to click on mobile advertisementactions 935, 936, 937 when they do not have, or want, Internet access.For example, the mobile call action 937 may have the phone number of therevenue generator A 110A delivered with the email. A user AA 120AAclicking on the mobile call action 936 may thus connect directly to therevenue generator A 110A without being connected to the Internet.Additional or alternative call actions may be included such as a callaction to receive a follow-up call from a revenue generator A 110A or acall action to submit a packet of information.

FIG. 10 is an illustration 1000 of a mobile device displaying a mobilelanding page 1005 for a mobile advertisement 1030 of a revenue generatorA 110A. The mobile advertisement 1030 may include a title 1032, adescription 1033, a mobile call action 1041, a mobile mapping action1042, a mobile purchase action 1043, a mobile coupon action 1044, amobile question action 1045, a mobile call action 1046, a mobile receiveaction 1047, a mobile survey action 1048, and a mobile download action1049. The mobile advertisement actions 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044, 1045,1046, 1047, 1048, 1049 may be any of the mobile advertisement actions705, 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 760, 770, 780, 790 or other mobileadvertisement actions. The mobile landing page 1005 may provideadditional information 1020 about the revenue generator A 110A, such asa description of the revenue generator, a website, a telephone numberand/or an address. Each mobile advertisement action 1041, 1042, 1043,1044, 1045, 1046, 1047, 1048, 1049 to be displayed may be individuallyselected by revenue generator A 110A and may be changed dynamically tomatch a search keyword. Alternatively, it may be selected by the serviceprovider 130. Because of the increased screen space allocated to theadvertisement, more mobile advertisement actions 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044,1045, 1046, 1047, 1048, 1049 may be displayed in the advertisement 1030than if less space was included, such as in the mobile advertisement930. The mobile call actions 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044, 1045, 1046, 1047,1048, 1049 may provide the user AA 120AA with the actions of receivingcoupons, sending questions to the revenue generator, having the revenuegenerator A 110A call the user AA 120AA or another, requesting toreceive a newsletter, taking a survey of the revenue generator, anddownloading wallpaper or other information to display.

The service provider 130 may provide the mobile landing page 1005 to theuser AA 120AA if the user AA 120AA clicks on the advertisement 840without clicking on one of the mobile advertisement actions 845, 846,846, 848. On the mobile landing page 1005 more mobile actions may bedisplayed to the user AA 120AA than may be displayed on the mobilesearch page 805. Additionally, information describing the revenuegenerator A 110A, such as the homepage address, phone number, and logomay continue to be displayed. Alternatively or in addition clicking onthe mobile advertisement 840 may direct the user AA 120AA to thehomepage of the revenue generator A 110A.

FIG. 11 illustrates a general computer system 1100, which may representa service provider server 240, a third party server 250, an advertisingservices server 260, a mobile device or any of the other computingdevices referenced herein. The computer system 1100 may include a set ofinstructions 1124 that may be executed to cause the computer system 1100to perform any one or more of the methods or computer based functionsdisclosed herein. The computer system 1100 may operate as a standalonedevice or may be connected, e.g., using a network, to other computersystems or peripheral devices.

In a networked deployment, the computer system may operate in thecapacity of a server or as a client user computer in a server-clientuser network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer(or distributed) network environment. The computer system 1100 may alsobe implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile device, a palmtop computer, a laptopcomputer, a desktop computer, a communications device, a wirelesstelephone, a land-line telephone, a control system, a camera, a scanner,a facsimile machine, a printer, a pager, a personal trusted device, aweb appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any other machinecapable of executing a set of instructions 1124 (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. In aparticular embodiment, the computer system 1100 may be implemented usingelectronic devices that provide voice, video or data communication.Further, while a single computer system 1100 may be illustrated, theterm “system” shall also be taken to include any collection of systemsor sub-systems that individually or jointly execute a set, or multiplesets, of instructions to perform one or more computer functions.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the computer system 1100 may include aprocessor 1102, such as, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), or both. The processor 1102 may be a component ina variety of systems. For example, the processor 1102 may be part of astandard personal computer or a workstation. The processor 1102 may beone or more general processors, digital signal processors, applicationspecific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, servers,networks, digital circuits, analog circuits, combinations thereof, orother now known or later developed devices for analyzing and processingdata. The processor 1102 may implement a software program, such as codegenerated manually (i.e., programmed).

The computer system 1100 may include a memory 1104 that can communicatevia a bus 1108. The memory 1104 may be a main memory, a static memory,or a dynamic memory. The memory 1104 may include, but may not be limitedto computer readable storage media such as various types of volatile andnon-volatile storage media, including but not limited to random accessmemory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electricallyprogrammable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory,flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media and the like. In onecase, the memory 1104 may include a cache or random access memory forthe processor 11102. Alternatively or in addition, the memory 1104 maybe separate from the processor 1102, such as a cache memory of aprocessor, the system memory, or other memory. The memory 1104 may be anexternal storage device or database for storing data. Examples mayinclude a hard drive, compact disc (“CD”), digital video disc (“DVD”),memory card, memory stick, floppy disc, universal serial bus (“USB”)memory device, or any other device operative to store data. The memory1104 may be operable to store instructions 1124 executable by theprocessor 1102. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figuresor described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 1102executing the instructions 1124 stored in the memory 1104. Thefunctions, acts or tasks may be independent of the particular type ofinstructions set, storage media, processor or processing strategy andmay be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firmware,micro-code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise,processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking,parallel processing and the like.

The computer system 1100 may further include a display 1114, such as aliquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), aflat panel display, a solid state display, a cathode ray tube (CRT), aprojector, a printer or other now known or later developed displaydevice for outputting determined information. The display 1114 may actas an interface for the user to see the functioning of the processor1102, or specifically as an interface with the software stored in thememory 1104 or in the drive unit 1106.

Additionally, the computer system 1100 may include an input device 1112configured to allow a user to interact with any of the components ofsystem 1100. The input device 1112 may be a number pad, a keyboard, or acursor control device, such as a mouse, or a joystick, touch screendisplay, remote control or any other device operative to interact withthe system 1100.

The computer system 1100 may also include a disk or optical drive unit1106. The disk drive unit 1106 may include a computer-readable medium1122 in which one or more sets of instructions 1124, e.g. software, canbe embedded. Further, the instructions 1124 may perform one or more ofthe methods or logic as described herein. The instructions 1124 mayreside completely, or at least partially, within the memory 1104 and/orwithin the processor 1102 during execution by the computer system 1100.The memory 1104 and the processor 1102 also may includecomputer-readable media as discussed above.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium 1122 thatincludes instructions 1124 or receives and executes instructions 1124responsive to a propagated signal; so that a device connected to anetwork 235 may communicate voice, video, audio, images or any otherdata over the network 235. The instructions 1124 may be implemented withhardware, software and/or firmware, or any combination thereof. Further,the instructions 1124 may be transmitted or received over the network235 via a communication interface 1118. The communication interface 1118may be a part of the processor 1102 or may be a separate component. Thecommunication interface 1118 may be created in software or may be aphysical connection in hardware. The communication interface 1118 may beconfigured to connect with a network 235, external media, the display1114, or any other components in system 1100, or combinations thereof.The connection with the network 235 may be a physical connection, suchas a wired Ethernet connection or may be established wirelessly asdiscussed below. Likewise, the additional connections with othercomponents of the system 1100 may be physical connections or may beestablished wirelessly. In the case of a service provider server 240, athird party server 250, an advertising services server 260, the serversmay communicate with users 120AA-NN and the revenue generators 110A-Nthrough the communication interface 1118.

The network 235 may include wired networks, wireless networks, orcombinations thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephonenetwork, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, or WiMax network. Further, thenetwork 235 may be a public network, such as the Internet, a privatenetwork, such as an intranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize avariety of networking protocols now available or later developedincluding, but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

The computer-readable medium 1122 may be a single medium, or thecomputer-readable medium 1122 may be a single medium or multiple media,such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cachesand servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” may also include any medium that may becapable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions forexecution by a processor or that may cause a computer system to performany one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.

The computer-readable medium 1122 may include a solid-state memory suchas a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatileread-only memories. The computer-readable medium 1122 also may be arandom access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally,the computer-readable medium 1122 may include a magneto-optical oroptical medium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device tocapture carrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over atransmission medium. A digital file attachment to an e-mail or otherself-contained information archive or set of archives may be considereda distribution medium that may be a tangible storage medium.Accordingly, the disclosure may be considered to include any one or moreof a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and otherequivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may bestored.

Alternatively or in addition, dedicated hardware implementations, suchas application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arraysand other hardware devices, may be constructed to implement one or moreof the methods described herein. Applications that may include theapparatus and systems of various embodiments may broadly include avariety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodimentsdescribed herein may implement functions using two or more specificinterconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and datasignals that may be communicated between and through the modules, or asportions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, thepresent system may encompass software, firmware, and hardwareimplementations.

The illustrations described herein are intended to provide a generalunderstanding of the structure of various embodiments. The illustrationsare not intended to serve as a complete description of all of theelements and features of apparatus, processors, and systems that utilizethe structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments maybe apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure.Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, suchthat structural and logical substitutions and changes may be madewithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, theillustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale.Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, whileother proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and thefigures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

Although embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, itshould be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed toachieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specificembodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and allsubsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, may be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the description.

The Abstract is provided with the understanding that it will not be usedto interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition,in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may be groupedtogether or described in a single embodiment for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed toless than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus,the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimedsubject matter.

The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, andnot restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the description. Thus, to the maximumextent allowed by law, the scope is to be determined by the broadestpermissible interpretation of the following claims and theirequivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoingdetailed description.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method for providing a mobileadvertisement including mobile advertisement actions, comprising:receiving, with a processor of an advertising service provider, arequest from a cellular device, the cellular device being incommunication with a cellular carrier of a plurality of cellularcarriers, the received request including information about a geographiclocation of the cellular device; determining, with the processor, anidentity of the cellular carrier in communication with the cellulardevice, the processor of the advertising service provider being incommunication with the plurality of cellular carriers for providingadvertisements to respective cellular devices which are in communicationwith respective cellular carriers of the plurality of cellular carriers,a provision of advertisements being based at least in part on anidentity of a respective cellular carrier; identifying, with theprocessor, a mobile advertisement targeted to both the request and thecellular carrier based on the geographic location of the cellulardevice; identifying, with the processor, a cellular call actionassociated with the identified mobile advertisement and targeted to thegeographic location of the cellular device, the cellular call actionhaving a function of causing the cellular device to perform a telephonecall to a phone number associated with the identified mobileadvertisement when activated by a user of the cellular device;appending, with the processor, the cellular call action to the mobileadvertisement by including a link or button in the identified mobileadvertisement when the identified mobile advertisement is displayed onthe cellular device; and providing, with the processor, the identifiedmobile advertisement with the appended cellular call action to thecellular device.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is arequest to perform a search based on a keyword.
 3. The method of claim 2wherein the identified mobile advertisement and the cellular call actionare targeted to the keyword.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein therequest comprises a mobile message.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein therequest comprises a voice communication.
 6. A system for providingmobile advertisement actions, comprising: a memory to store a request,cellular carrier data, mobile advertisement data, and cellular callaction data; an interface operatively connected to the memory tocommunicate with a cellular device; and a processor operativelyconnected to the memory and the interface, the processor beingconfigured to: receive information of the cellular device and a requestfrom the cellular device via the interface, the cellular device being incommunication with a cellular carrier of a plurality of cellularcarriers, the received information including geographic locationinformation of the cellular device, determine cellular carrier datarelating to an identity of the cellular carrier in communication withthe cellular device, the processor being in communication with theplurality of cellular carriers for providing advertisements torespective cellular devices which are in communication with respectivecellular carriers of the plurality of cellular carriers, a provision ofthe advertisements being based at least in part on the identity of arespective cellular carrier, identify mobile advertisement data andcellular call action data targeted to both the request and the cellularcarrier data based on the geographic location information of thecellular device, wherein the cellular call action data has a function ofcausing the cellular device to perform a telephone call to a phonenumber associated with a mobile advertisement defined by the identifiedmobile advertisement data, append the cellular call action data to themobile advertisement data by including a link or button in the mobileadvertisement when the mobile advertisement is displayed on the cellulardevice, and communicate the mobile advertisement data with the appendedcellular call action data to the cellular device via the interface. 7.The system of claim 6 wherein the request is a request to search for akeyword.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to perform the search requested and communicate a set ofsearch results, mobile advertisement data, and the cellular call actionto the cellular device via the interface.
 9. The system of claim 6wherein the information received by the processor further comprises userdata about a user of the cellular device.
 10. The system of claim 6wherein the cellular device comprises a mobile phone.
 11. The system ofclaim 6 wherein the interface is configured to communicate to thecellular device via the cellular carrier.
 12. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions forproviding a mobile advertisement including a mobile advertisementaction, the set of instructions to direct a processor of an advertisingservice provider to perform acts of: receiving a request from a cellulardevice, the cellular device being in communication with a cellularcarrier of a plurality of cellular carriers, the request includinginformation about a geographic location of the cellular device;determining an identity of the cellular carrier in communication withthe cellular device, wherein the processor of the advertising serviceprovider is in communication with the plurality of cellular carriers forproviding advertisements to respective cellular devices which are incommunication with respective cellular carriers of the plurality ofcellular carriers, a provision of advertisements being based at least inpart on an identity of a respective cellular carrier; identifying amobile advertisement targeted to both the request and the cellularcarrier based on the geographic location of the cellular device;identifying a cellular call action associated with the identified mobileadvertisement and targeted to the geographic location of the cellulardevice, the cellular call action having a function of causing thecellular device to perform a telephone call to a phone number associatedwith the identified mobile advertisement when activated by a user of thecellular device; appending the cellular call action to the mobileadvertisement by including a link or button in the identified mobileadvertisement when the identified mobile advertisement is displayed onthe cellular device; and providing the identified mobile advertisementwith the appended cellular call action to the cellular device.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein therequest is a request to perform a search based on a keyword.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein theidentified mobile advertisement and the cellular call action aretargeted to the keyword.